Stellaris

Most 4x strategy games tell you to beat the enemy, or excel at one of the non-combat systems of the game like research or something. Stellaris, however, only has victory by score at the end of a very long timer, or by controlling a very large portion of the galaxy. In some games that would be a very bad thing, and for some people that may ruin their enjoyment of this one. However, if you're the kind of player who's more interested in developing and expanding your empire than actually finishing the game, then this is one of the best. |||| THE GOOD |||| Making your own species (which has significantly more options if you get Utopia dlc) and setting your own goals ----- such as form a large intergalactic federation, be peaceful and rich, pick fights with any species that isn't spiritual, or conquer one of the passive but heavily fortified Fallen Empires ----- that's where the game really shines. Plus, there's the crisis system for if the late game is growing too stagnant, which you can scale down to be weaker if you're going pacifist or up to be stronger if you want a challenge. There's also a bunch of other options for world generation to customise your experience - do you want a large, lonely galaxy? Do you want a dense galaxy with few paths between systems? You can do all that. Also the post-launch support is pretty good, with each major dlc bringing updates to the base game as well. |||| THE BAD |||| Multiplayer is through Paradox servers, so while you get crossplay with steam, it is behind a form of DRM. The tutorial is lacking, and there are some things you'll have to google to understand. Many of the more interesting options for custom species are behind dlc (mainly Utopia). The dlcs are expensive, and some have very little content. Combat is a little basic; there's basically no micro, you just hope your fleet is bigger - designing your own ships does bring more depth here though.

The early stage of this game where you are still exploring and expanding is extremely fun and there are plenty of weird events to keep things varied. It tends to bog down once you run into AI empires on all sides, especially if you're playing on a large map and have dozens of colonies to monitor.

Maybe not worth every single DLC, but good game. Try mods!

A good strategy game, but also DLC heavy that feel pricey.

I'm a fan of Strategy and Sci-fi games, and Stellaris really hit the mark for me. While it might seem to be a bit complicated at first, the tutorial is pretty good, just make sure the pop-up windows aren't blocking your objectives. The only thing that could be considered a "con" regarding this game is the sheer amount of DLCs which might seem to make jumping into the game extremely prohibitive, if you like to have all of them. Get the base game, check it out nad if you like it, pick whichever DLCs you like.